


Airbender Retreat

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: Aang Week 2015 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang Week, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 00:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8555977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Four years after the end of the series, Aang and Appa take a short retreat at the Southern Air Temple.





	

The silence of the Southern Air Temple was unsettling and creepy, but it wasn’t unexpected. It wasn’t his first time back, after all, and over the course of his journeys he’d visited all the temples and felt the same thing.

The temples weren’t haunted. There was no ominous presence when he crossed the threshold into the sacred spaces. Even if it were possible to become a ghost, to leave an imprint of your hate and rage behind, it was not the way of his people. Their deaths had been violent and horrific, but they let go and moved on. Those who had been reborn either did so far away, or came back as the birds or lemurs who were now the temple’s primary residents.

He was pretty sure Momo had been an airbender before.

Holding the fragile scrolls in one hand, and a small fire in the other, Aang made his way through the darkened hallways to the stairs spiraling down the center of the tower. He’d only started the most tentative reconstruction of his childhood home in the last year. He’d been too busy with the harmony restoration movement and establishment of Yu Dao to take time for his own interests. Until there were airbenders, or more air acolytes, it didn’t make sense to restore a temple just to sit unoccupied. In the grand scheme, pristine yet empty was no better than run down and empty. And until there was a valid reason, such a project just seemed too egocentric for his tastes.

He leaned against the door with his back, pushing it open without unsettling the contents in either hand. He was greeted by Appa’s low groan. The bison had been lounging in the highest courtyard, apparently taking Katara’s request very seriously. She’d be pleased.

“Hey buddy,” Aang called, snuffing out his fire and descending the steps as though floating. “Thanks for waiting for me." He leaned against the side of Appa’s face and reached up to scratch the spot above his enormous brown eye. "You want to head down to the caves?”

Appa grumbled in response.

Aang laughed. “Yes, you can pick whichever one you want. You are the boss of the bison caves, after all.”

Another grumble, longer, this time.

Aang buried his face in Appa’s soft fur. “Yeah. I’ll come with you. We airbenders gotta stick together." He leaped up to his place on Appa’s head. "Besides, I think Katara would get upset if she found out either of us had left the other alone, even to sleep. You know how she gets.”

Appa snorted and let out a short roar before launching gently into the air.

Aang couldn’t help but smile. “Me too, buddy. Maybe she’ll come next time." Sokka had made quite the ruckus about how unseemly it would be for them to travel alone now. His offhand statement about letting the oogies go too far had left Aang flushing while his sweetie roared that as they were both of age, it was no one’s business what she did with her boyfriend, her body, or her boyfriend’s body. Just the memory of her words brought the heat back to his cheeks. The irony, of course, was that she had never planned on coming on this trip. She’d designed it as a retreat for him. She was downright sneaky when she wanted to be.

Appa circled the caves below the temple before choosing the largest and highest of them. Between his aversion to being underground and memories of the distant past, it didn’t really surprise Aang that his friend avoided the caves he’d used when they were younger, before they’d known Aang was the avatar.

The bison laid down with his head just inside the mouth of the cave, eyes looking out. Aang hopped gently into the saddle to fish out a few cabbages. "Here you go, buddy.” He tossed the leafy heads one at a time onto Appa’s eager tongue. "And before you can ask, yes. I did pay for them.“

Appa let out a light rumble, bison laughter, and nudged Aang with his nose.

Aang leaned against one of Appa’s front legs and carefully unrolled the first scroll, holding it open to see the entire thing. The simple diagrams were familiar, though he hadn’t looked at this particular technique since he ran away one hundred and five years ago. While he’d technically mastered airbending, he hadn’t finished his work on the thirty-sixth level. He’d been enjoying a brief lull in his avatar duties when Katara suggested he do something for himself. She’d known he’d been thinking a lot about his training, even if he hadn’t mentioned it. He suspected she was working on a project or two of her own while he was gone and he looked forward to learning what she’d been up to the past few weeks.

Though the circumstances were wildly different, sitting here with Appa and reviewing scrolls felt familiar, linked with the education of his childhood. Using gentle airbending to keep the scroll open, he ran a cautious finger over the last three moves, committing them to memory. He closed his eyes and ran through the movements in his head until he was confident he had them down. He’d copy the whole thing tomorrow for the master library he was assembling.

He rolled the scroll back up and carefully stowed it and the other one in a metal tube Toph had made him for this use. It had a snug fitting cap and would protect these relics while he had them out of the safety of the library.

He nestled back into Appa’s fur to sleep, his fingers working their way down to the bison’s pale soft skin. "It’s not really home anymore,” he said quietly. "But it’s nice to be back.“

Appa agreed, and Aang felt the rumble through his back. He smiled, continuing his gentle scritching. "There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Appa raised his head in surprise. Though he didn’t look up, Aang knew there was a worried look on his friend’s face.

“When I’ve been closeted in all those meetings, you know, the ones Katara isn’t allowed to attend, she’s been doing some research.” He’d been a little surprised to find that instead of plotting revenge on backward generals and idiotic officials, she’d put her time to a use far more meaningful than any contribution she could have brought to the meetings. "When things are more settled in Yu Dao, we’re going on a long trip. Just you, me, and her. We’re gonna find the sky bison, Appa.“ His vision went a little blurry as tears welled into his eyes, just like they had when she first sat him down and told him her plan. "I know some survived. Bison are just too clever. And she’s got some really good ideas where to look.”

Appa let out a little roar, then settled his head on his front feet, snuggling Aang into his neck.

“Yeah,” Aang agreed. "Me too. And I know she loves both of us back.“ He closed his eyes and let the scents of sky bison and the Patola Mountains lull him to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: comfort  
> Note: This was written as a part of a speed-writing exercise. I was permitted 30 minutes to write a complete story based off a prompt. While I wrote the bulk of this in 30 minutes, it was a disjointed mess and I had to edit it before it was suitable for public consumption.


End file.
